Month: November 2009

During my last three days in Arizona for work I rented a a 2009 Ford Mustang from Hertz. It wasn’t my choice, it’s what they gave me and while not quite as exotic as the Corvette it’s probably much more common.

It didn’t have the GT badge but it did seem to have the 4.6 Liter V8 and other GT like features . I didn’t look under the hood but I drove it in perfectly legal ways and certainly seemed like it had more than a V6.

I really enjoyed driving this car. I was really impressed with how well Ford integrated some of the retro elements of the car while keeping it like a modern automobile. It handled well, It as comfortable to drive, I fit in it and could extend my legs, I could see out if it well and it had power. Ford states it can get about 25 MPG highway and the computer on the car showed 25 MPG from whoever drove it last (don’t know if it was highway or city).

The Mustang received a Very Good overall road test score of 78, outpointing the Camaro which received a Very Good 71, and the Challenger, which received a Good 53 points. CR’s engineers found the Mustang’s 2010 freshening makes it an even more balanced and satisfying driver’s car than ever before.

“The Mustang topped this group by delivering strong acceleration, communicative steering, and the most agile handling,” said David Champion, senior director of CR’s Auto Test Center in East Haddam, Connecticut.

Since driving the 2009 Mustang I have decided that I am going to buy one. Mostly likely a 2010 model due to some significant improvements (really I want the sequential turn signals). Now, all I need is the money.

Howard sent me a message and wanted to know where are the best hikes in New Mexico. I’ve been on plenty of hikes in NM but I’m terrible at remembering where they are. A few of my favorites has been from the top of the tram, along the East side of the Sandia’s and the Pecos.

I have a feeling there will be some last minute changes that will still allow all states driver license. If not the situation could get ugly.

The Bush administration passed the law, designed to stop terrorists from entering the country, after Sept. 11, 2001. All 50 states have to comply with its regulations by Jan. 1, 2010.
Sec. Rick Homans said the clock is ticking and New Mexico is nowhere near close.
“The way it is right now, come Jan. 1st, residents of New Mexico and residents of about 25 other states wouldn’t be allowed to board airplanes unless they had a valid passport.”

Sen. Udall: Yeah. Well, as you are probably aware, the situation that we’re in now — we have health care on the floor — where if tried to move to anything else I think it would make it much more difficult procedurally. So I think if — I don’t see us getting to Pass ID on the Senate floor between now and the end of the year. So I think it would be very helpful for you to issue a statement — you might use this as an opportunity to do it — to assure people that after December 31st they will be able to travel with something other than a passport. I don’t know if you want to do that at this point but if you decline that’s fine.

Sec. Napolitano: I think I will not accept that invitation at this point in time.

I thought I would try to turn a negative into a positive with my scorpions situation by capturing them and keeping in them in a glassed habitat in the house. Perhaps there’s money to be made selling scorpions.

The first thing I did was to clean out a 10 gallon aquarium that was being unused.

I then added cactus from the back yard.

I then added some sandy soil (commonly referred to as dirt), also from the back yard.

I then added a pile of rocks, from the front yard this time.

I then added the scorpion (Vaejovis flavus). This one came from inside the house.

The first scorpion died after keeping it in the tank for about a month. This was despite providing it several crickets that it quickly ate.

Since Saturn the cat came along, I rarely get a scorpion before she kills them. Plus she is has eliminated the scorpion food supply in the house so I don’t know that I will get much more of them. The tank currently sits empty.

Not a much info available on a 1976 Ford Ranchero. I think they need to bring the Ranchero back, but not looking like these.

1976 Ford Ranchero for sale 1700$ willing to negotiate

$3250 for a 1973 Cadillac Eldorado convertible in Rio Rancho doesn’t sound too bad but I would be concerned about the condition. This would be a good car to drive around in the summer unless your in the mob. I think I have seen this one driving around town a few times.

Our 1973 eldorado runs ok but needs a transmission tune up it has a tear in convertable top fun car to pimp around in

I’m suspicious of a 1972 Pontiac LeMans for $2000 in Los Lunas. Only 62,000 miles? Plus the ad is written in all caps.

THIS IS A RUNNING 1972 PONTIAC LEMANS 4 DR. HARD TOP. 62K MILES. 350/350. I HAVE OWNED IT FOR 3 YEARS AND HAVE USED IT DAILY FOR WORK TRANSPORTATION. VERY RELIABLE. PARTS ON CAR ARE WORTH MORE THAN SELLING PRICE. GREAT BUMPERS, DASH, METAL. HAS 4 AMERICAN TORQUE THRUSTS WITH NEWER TIRES. PERFECT DASH PAD AND CAR HAS ORIGINAL PAINT AND IS RUST

After writing my post on the “How To Eat Chicken Wings Video”, I got a craving for some chicken wings. I called-in an order at the nearest Wing Basket and drove down to Albuquerque to get them.

When I pulled up to the place I could see a car sitting in front with it’s lights on and people inside. It took me a few minutes to get parked and out of the car. As I got out, the passenger of the other car got out and hurried to the door. We both seemed to race to the door but I did stop to open the door for the other person. She ignored me as I opened the door, not even a thank you, probably because she was too busy talking on her cell phone.

She was now first in line and both the cashier and myself were getting annoyed as she kept asking the same questions since she didn’t pay attention to the answers the first time because she was too busy talking on her phone. Since I was the only other person in the place it because pretty clear their one call-in order was for me. They only had one cashier so they could only do one order at a time.

Eventually she made her order. It was the smallest least complicated thing on the menu and it only took her 10 minutes. I’m not sure if she was consulting with the person on her cell phone or made this choice all on her own. Once she got out of line, she seemed oblivious that there was someone waiting in line behind her.

My Wings were delicious once I got home to eat them. The point of this story is to explain why I hate people and try to order everything on the internet.

Costco has La Crosse Technologies weather center that appears to be the same as the La Crosse Weather Pro Center WS-2810. I couldn’t find any markings on the package at the Costco in Albuquerque other than Costco Specific.

The WS-2810 is has PC compatibility using a wireless USB dongle. I’m interested to know if it’s Mac compatible. La Crosse only supplies PC software but I’m using WeatherTracker by After Ten Software with a similar wired model I picked up last year. This wireless model looks to be improved over the wired model I have now.